228. How do you build meaningful community? (f. Emily Corbin)
Curious about what it takes to build a thriving community and foster genuine connections? 🏘️ Our guest today, Emily Corbin, is a seasoned community manager with a stellar reputation for creating impactful and engaging communities. In today's episode, she shares her insights on building long-term relationships and empowering community members from both a brand and ambassador perspective.
Episode transcription
phil
Ever wondered what it takes to build a thriving community? Curious about how to foster genuine connections? Those are so important for solopreneurs and small business owners these days. Well, our guest today, Emily Corbin, is a seasoned community manager and is built a major reputation for creating impactful and engaging communities, some of which I've had the privilege of being a part of.
And in today's episode, Emily's going to share her insights on building long term relationships, fostering real connections, and empowering community members, both from the vantage point of a brand and an ambassador. She's one of my faves, so let's dive right into the art of community building.
Emily, Emily, Emily, Emily, and I quote from a video that was made about how much people love you. That includes me, and I'm welcoming you to Brand Therapy.
Emily
Well, I love you too, and I have to say, watching that video and just being part of this whole community is just Watching that video was one of the highlights of my creative career as a community builder.
And I'm just so incredibly grateful that I've been able to make connections that led to that. And more importantly, I'm just so grateful that I know you. You're one of my favorite humans.
phil
We have become very close friends, real life friends from work. And it's been a long time now. Do you realize I've been an ambassador for four years?
emily
It's wild. I don't know where the time goes, Phil. I really don't. I feel like it was yesterday that I met you.
emily
It's, it is wild, but we've been through so much together. And I should give our, our listener context. Emily has not only been a part, as she says so humbly, but she's created and propelled the Adobe Express Ambassador Program forward.
When I joined, there were around 30 ambassadors. Now there are over 300, I think, right? Or it's close to that number.
emily
There are 274 global ambassadors.
phil
There we go. So nearly 300, which is mind blowing. And so you had to be on this podcast as we even wind things down, but you've been hugely important in my career and we're just like number one cheerleaders for each other.
And I've talked, I mean, I talk present tense. I talk about you because you just get it. Because you know how to create community. And you have such, you know, this incredible track record. I often, also, I'm going to stop talking and ask you a question in a second, but I just have too much to praise. Um, people will say to me, Phil, what are your favorite brands to work with?
And the answer isn't necessarily the one that pays him the most amount of money. The answer is, it's always the project based on how fulfilled I am by getting to work with the brand, get to work with the people, learn about the product, watch the product get better. And for me, Express, Adobe in general, is just on another level.
And I think that's clear through everything I post and say and do on this podcast and beyond. But this one's really major. I mean, I counted on my flight over to Max. In London, I've worked with 10 teams at Adobe and counting. Well, even more now, the first one that I started with was you. And so, it's just, anyways, there's so much to say.
But why don't we start with a question, or I'll just keep talking.
Emily
I'm, I'm ready.
phil
Okay, so here's my first question for you. Since you have this incredible track record of creating community, what is community to you? How do you define it? Definitely community management means so many things to different groups and different leaders in the community space.
But to me, my goal as a community manager is to make you feel a real connection to the product, to feel like you have a line in with the product team, that your voice counts, that you are part of what we're building, and we're iterating together and creating something beautiful together. And empowering you to go out into the world and share your love of the brand with the people that follow and trust you in some really meaningful ways.
But also, I'd say community building, a really important aspect of it is, what is it giving you, the person that's part of the program. I want to make sure that you're feeling like you're getting a real network of other people that are also ambassadors that you're able to connect with, make business relationships with them.
Beautiful collaborations that you're learning and growing as a creator. I think that the, the root of community is connection, and it's my job to really facilitate all of those connections and create a beautiful experience for you.
phil
Well said. I had mentioned the video a second ago, and then of course didn't clarify because I was just barraging you with compliments.
Our ambassador crew put together this amazing video that explained how much we appreciated Well said. Adobe, specifically Adobe Express for the program they've created under your leadership, but it's true. That's how we feel. It's really different than what it, what exists with other brands. And having done the number of brands I've done over a hundred, having done that, I feel like I know, I know the difference between a brand that wants a viral sensation in one or two videos.
Versus actual ambassadorship. And so, I don't know that you can actually become an ambassador if you've made one or two posts about a product. It typically takes that many to just get your feet wet. And I've said to you early on, I appreciated how many opportunities you gave me as I was still learning and navigating, but that's part of it too.
Isn't it?
emily
Yeah, absolutely. And I think we have just incredible, the express ambassadors are some of the most inspiring, wonderful humans that I'm so incredibly lucky to get to collaborate with and work with every day. But part of what makes a program like this effective is that you build that ongoing relationship.
You know, one of my first exposures many, many moons ago, back in high school, my friend's dad did marketing and he talked about how every year they would have a different group of people that they would work with for their marketing team. And then everybody would get fired. And I know it's a completely different example, but I remember thinking to myself that doesn't create, that's not real relationships.
That's not creating trust that just it's super transactional and fake. What I really hope to do as a community manager is build a long term relationship, a long term supportive system where you're helping us as a product grow and learn, and where we're helping you to grow and learn as a creator, as a human, that we're supporting you and all of the incredible work that you do out in the field.
You can't have a community and have it be transactional in that sense. It's like you, it has to be a realness. And when you're able to build real relationships with people, the outcome is that it's not just like you said, those big, splashy, expensive promotions, but it's that people feel genuine in what they're creating.
And it's really comes across as authentic and organic, if that makes sense.
phil
It makes perfect sense. I feel strongly, I've talked about it before on the podcast, that this idea of community and membership is really the future even for small business owners and solopreneurs. So this idea of maybe folding someone's courses that they sell into a membership model, I'm in the process of navigating that myself.
So here's what I'm going to ask you next. It's two questions. I want to get your insights for first, the small business owner that wants to create a community or let's call it a membership. It's kind of the same idea, right? You've got people that are buying into your idea. And then I want to talk about it from the other standpoint of someone maybe that wants to work with a brand. So let's start with the creator of community or creating a membership model, which is effectively what you've done for Adobe Express. What are the most important things to keep in mind as you build a program?
emily
Yeah, that's such a good question. I think at the root of any community, it's that people need to feel seen and heard.
And something that I think that makes people stand out, not necessarily even in the context of building a community, but when I look at content creators that just go above and beyond and really foster community and the way they're interacting, it's that you are on the pulse of what people are asking, you're thinking about their needs and how they're interacting with you as a business or as a, as a leader and you're having real conversations with them.
I think the foundation of building a community in a smaller sense is just making sure that you're really on the pulse and having those, those deep conversations and inviting interaction and that kind of connection with your audience. And then also just keeping up and keeping active with making sure that that communication and that effort is consistent.
I've seen some really great examples of small businesses really scrappily and beautifully making communities. I think something I've seen that that works really well is Patreons and people setting up a reward system where they can connect with their audience and give benefits and special newsletters and just.
Special perks for the people that are closest to them. I think that there's lots of ways that everybody can do it without necessarily having the budget or having a huge bandwidth to do, you know, extensive. community building activity and just going live and doing ask me anythings. There's just so many ways that you can in a really creative way and a really connected way, build a small community for yourself and your business.
phil
We have to give a shout out to our mutual friend, Jordan Ellis, who came on this podcast many weeks ago. It was episode 183. And she did a whole episode about Patreon. So look how aligned we are. I recommend people go and listen to that because she gave some really, really useful insights even from her personal experience on a platform like Patreon.
So that was a perfect answer. Now, let me approach this idea from the standpoint of someone who's creating content and actually wants to do a brand deal, wants to become an ambassador. You know, sometimes it's for free products. Sometimes it's for payment. I know that always kind of differs depending on what's being offered, but what's your advice to someone who's like wanting to partner with a brand?
emily
Oh, that's such a good question. Well, I guess there's two layers to it. There's one is like, how do you connect to the brands to express your interest and show why you'd be a great brand partner? And then there's just kind of foundationally how you set yourself up for success. I would say for sure you have to have a, you're a strong personal brand and a strong identity.
And then finding the brands that really resonate and that you authentically organically would feel or be able to really connect and amplify their offerings and be part of their brand community that's foundational. But when I'm looking for people to partner with, the number one thing I'm looking for is kind of what I alluded to in the last question.
I look to see, how are you talking to your audience? Do you seem to be noticing and engaging and showing up for your audience in the way that they're asking? And are you making content that is true to you? Are you showing up and being yourself and finding fun, creative ways to talk about your business, talk about your offerings, talk about who you are, talk about your values.
And that's really what I look for is that somebody has a strong voice, a strong perspective, and that there's a tie in to who they are, and what our brand is, and how we can collaborate together.
phil
All of that stuff matters so much, and I think sometimes from both perspectives, we get hung up on both. What might be the superficial metrics like number of followers, number of likes and comments.
I still have moments where I see my peers that have way, way more followers and comments and such than me. But I always remind myself that actually it's not about quantity all the time. I'm really proud of the fact that I have a very engaged audience, but this very high quality people that have seen me speak on stage, clients that have spent thousands of dollars, those types of things.
And so you can't really compare apples in every context. Everyone brings a different audience. One of the things I've loved about the program that you've created is that there's we've got big creators, we've got small creators. No one really cares. They're not there because of a superficial metric. And that to me shows.
emily
It doesn't matter that you are, you know, having millions of followers, that really doesn't mean much. And some of the best brand collaboration work that I've done with creators has been with people with smaller audiences. I'd also just would add that if you're excited about a brand, and you want to work with them, don't be afraid don't be shy to reach out, whether it's on LinkedIn or on Instagram. That's actually how I do a huge amount of my community building, is directly, directly through Instagram. I'll just DM people and tell them that I'm interested in working with them, or I'll go to their business website and I'll send them a note.
It doesn't hurt. You're putting it out to that person, that energy that you're interested and you don't know where that could go. Like case in point you, you started working with me, we had a synergy, but then you continue to put yourself out there and work with all of these teams and have built this really incredible series of projects and built all these wonderful relationships across Adobe because you started somewhere.
You could have easily been like, oh, my audience isn't big enough. But you didn't, you knew, recognized that you had something to offer and that energy and that effort continued to grow and get you to where you were.
phil
Well, that's, I mean, I appreciate that. And it was like a win, it is present tense, it is a win win for me.
The scope in which I've been able to work with Adobe has meant that I've had less pressure to churn client projects. And so I'm more selective about the client projects I take on and even the other brand deals. And I'm able to focus on the work that I really enjoy.
So I sometimes like say to people, I'm like, not typical results, you know, like those infomercials at the bottom that are like, don't, not typical results.
Honestly, I am not typical results, but it's just such a match made that it's a no brainer that I say yes to every opportunity that comes my way. And you're right. I feel like Adobe is the type of company that recognizes good people and helps pave a way for them to grow. And I'm very appreciative of that.
I know a lot of people at the company that agree with that. It's kind of like, you know, like, first of all, it attracts good people. Second of all, there are opportunities that arise because you show up and you go the extra mile.
emily
Yep. A thousand percent.
phil
So let's look into the future, cause I feel like you always have a pulse of on, on what's working now and maybe what's to come.
What do you think is the future of, I don't know, digital marketing might be too generic, but like even the creator economy, what do you think is the next thing?
emily
Oh, I don't know if I really have an answer to that, Bill. Quite honestly.
phil
Any insights you have. I mean, any insights you have, you don't have to predict the future.
I'm just curious. To get your thoughts on like, I don't know, the next stage of things.
emily
Well, I think, I think when it comes to what's ahead and what's next. To me, what really resonates the most when I think about what sets apart, okay, I'm just going to talk very specifically in the context of social media marketing and how ambassadors work with brands on social media.
I've been doing this for four years now, collaborated with so many people on social media projects. And what stands out the most is when people, and I keep saying this word over and over again, but when it's somebody is, really authentic and true to their voice and what they're sharing, I think oftentimes people get really turned off if it feels salesy and when people can read from a mile away if you're not really in it.
So I think starting with the story, having something more thematic that you're sharing, like a day in a life, come with me as I create stickers. I'm like, I'm drawing stickers as I travel across Japan in a train. When I see stories like that, I am immediately drawn in and I'm immediately curious.
I also think everybody has heart and when you're able to create content that really gets to the soul of people. I've seen some really incredible work where people talk about their struggles, whether struggling as a business, how they've overcome things, things that are real for them and they're able to take that, fold that realness in.
It's a connecting point that's really powerful that I think our audiences are hungry for it. People want that realness and want that human story. They don't just want the super polished, the super perfect kind of illusion of what life could be. They, they want you to, to really be real with them and they can really do that way and get inspired.
phil
That was a really good answer and it shows why you are at the top of your game in this industry. It echoes, it touches on my strong sentiments as AI becomes prevalent. Yeah, it's amazing, but there are things that we'll never be able to do, like tell stories based on human experience. And those are the things that we will continue to crave more so than now when we're used to it.
We're going to notice the absence of those humanization, you know, and that's why I feel like my industry is not going anywhere. Creating is not going anywhere. I just knew you'd have valuable insights on this idea of community and membership and ambassadorship and you just tied it up in a beautiful bow for our listeners.
So how can people follow you, stay in touch with you, pitch themselves to be an ambassador? I don't know. Where can people find you?
emily
You can find me on LinkedIn at Emily Elizabeth Corbin. It'll be very easy to find me. I think I am the only community manager with my name on LinkedIn today. So please find me there.
I'd love to connect with you and answer any questions that you have. And yeah, inspire you in any way that I can to be a better creator, to become an ambassador, to work with brands. I'm here for all the questions.
phil
Perfect. Well, it's finally happened. Emily Corbin on Brand Therapy. I've wanted this moment for ages.
We had to reschedule a bunch of times. I'm to blame for that. But it was so good, and we so appreciate you. I speak on behalf of the listener. So we thank you for being with us on Brand Therapy.
emily
It was an absolute honor. I always love talking to you. You know that. And thank you, everyone, for listening. It was a pleasure to be here today.
